"The problems that obviously beset the DMR are now a priority that need to be urgently addressed", says Phillip Dexter, COPE spokesperson on Mineral Resources.

"A number of key issues highlight the extent of the rot that has taken hold at the Department under the administration of President Jacob Zuma; the awarding of mining rights to Imperial Crown Trading, the sale of Imperial Crown Trading to ArcelorMittal and the related BEE deal, and the appearance of the usual suspects on the boards who benefit from these decisions, including Zuma's son this time and the decision around the related mineral rights for Lonmin in its mining operations.

Dexter alluded to malfeasance deeply rooted in the Department. "For this proposed BEE deal to reach this stage under the cover of night, someone from inside the department must have tipped off Imperial Crown Trading about the mining rights, clearing the way for this deal to be on the cards".

"The same people involved in the Imperial Crown Trading mining rights have now hit the jackpot on the proposed BEE deal with ArcelorMittal.

This is what gives BEE a bad name. Currently the BEE policy and legislation only benefits a select few, recently many of whom carry the same name as the President of the country. This is no co-incidence."

"While COPE agrees with the objectives of BEE and BBBEE, the way it is being implemented by the government is untenable. Within the parameters of the current framework, proximity to power is more important than ability. How many more 'Sishen-gates' do we need before the ANC realize that the legislation in its current form undermines the spirit in which it was written?"

The Department has painted itself into a very tight corner by accepting the Imperial Crown Trading prospecting rights in the first place. If they continue to favour what appears to be a company built on patronage, then they are not living up to their responsibility of working in the best interests of the mineral resources of South Africa.

Dexter said that the present administrations greatest success, providing for the needs of the elite, took precedence over fulfilling the core of its election manifesto.

"Clearly the agenda of the government is to feed the greed of the few at the expense of the needs of the many. In the current climate over fears of a price hike in the cost of bread, in the face of public sector strikes over pay, when service delivery is collapsing, it is morally inexcusable that only a certain elite can feast off the cake of the Luthuli House buffet."

Additionally, the recent decision by the Department of Minerals and Energy to bar Lonmin from selling non platinum group metals is controversial and points to a deeper problem at the very top of the administration.

"While the DMR can justify this decision on a legal technicality, the drive for wealth for a certain elite in power has been proven time and again in the relatively short life of this administration," said Dexter. "That these decisions will benefit former civil servants is problematic."

Instead of upliftment as per their oft-quoted election manifesto, the ANC has become a thieves den. What happened to the issues of the poorest of the poor, whose issues the ANC wrongfully claims to champion?

Dexter went on to label the so-called labour arm of the ruling alliance, COSATU and the so-called communist party, the SACP, as "toothless vote catching machines".

"One wonders how long it will be before the minor alliance partners can no longer countenance this sort of daylight robbery. To be silent on this issue on the one hand while continuing to paint yourself in the red of the liberation struggle is the height of hypocrisy."

Dexter feels that this latest move is a yet another poorly concealed attempt to enrich the backers of President Zuma.

"Now entrenched in the highest seat of the land, President Zuma has the freedom to allow his supporters and family to loot with gay abandon and engage in blatant patronage. COPE will raise and pursue this issue in the Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy. "

Statement issued by Philip Dexter, COPE spokesperson on mineral resources, August 11 2010

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